


Catsup

by hahafood



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Bonnie is a mess, Canon Compliant, Closure, During Canon, F/F, Fluff, Love, Marceline is emotionally mature, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Oral Sex, Pillow Talk, Romance, Vaginal Sex, Working Through Problems, we have no choice but to stan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:07:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29567250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hahafood/pseuds/hahafood
Summary: After the events of Ketchup, Marceline has a lot on her mind regarding her relationship to Princess Bubblegum. She hadn't spoken to Bonnie since the events of the Elements mini-series and she knows that in order for them to move forward, they need to talk. Problem is that Bonnie has avoided having contact with Marceline for almost a week.
Relationships: Princess Bubblegum & Marceline, Princess Bubblegum/Marceline
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	Catsup

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: first-time posting on this site. I decided to go for the jugular and get spicy towards the end. I have two other fics that are currently in the drafting stages, so who knows if they'll see the light of day. If you can't guess by the name, the fic takes place immediately after the episode 'Ketchup' - I wanted to bring a little bit of extra closure. Anyway, if anyone would like to offer constructive criticism or find any weird phrasing that may need some tweaking, let me know.

"Thanks for stopping by BMO, we should hang out more often," Marceline said as she approached the treehouse. She held on to BMO as they soared down towards the ground. The little computer held their arms up above their head and during the short journey the little robot kept making little exclamations of 'wee' 'woosh' 'lookit me football I'm flying!' and 'me too, BMO!' Marceline did not question the ways of the sweet little MO, she was aware they had lots of special friends and their love was without condition. BMO’s innate ability to make the saddest person in the room smile was something to cherish and protect. Once Marceline reached a safe distance from the ground, she let go of the little computer and they landed on their feet with a final 'wee!'

"Oh yes, thank you for sharing your story with me. I did love your puppet performance even if the ending could use some work," The little computer said with a look of total adoration, "Do you want to come in and play video games with Finn, Jake, and Me?"

BMO gave Marceline the biggest smile their pixels could muster. She, in return, gave them a big smile while she shook her head, "I would little dude but I need to take care of some things at home. Besides, I'm still in my pajamas." She gave the little computer a wink, "Raincheck."

BMO looked around, a little satellite popped out from the top of their head, "Rain checked, no rain for the next few days, Marcy. Well, please come back when it rains and we'll play games!"

Marcy threw her arms up and giggled at the robots literal interpretation of a rain check, "You got me there, BMO, thanks for checking the rain. Tell Finn and Jack I said 'Hi'" she smiled and waved, "You were a real lifesaver today, BMO"

"BMO saves the day once again! Bye!” BMO waved back at Marcy and ran inside the Tree House.

"What a little cutie." She smirked to herself and began to make her way back home. She did her best to keep a clear head while flying back, the little robot didn't realize how much of a help they were tonight. Marcy got to see pictures of her and her mom from so long ago. Before the world was the way it is now. The world was so different from today.

It felt like a dream looking at those pictures, the trouble of living so long as the vampire had she realized that sometimes things get lost along the way. Marcy did everything in her power to keep her mom's memory alive, from writing about her in her old journals, songs, and, without her realizing, hold on to old data sticks containing pictures of happier times.

She was also thankful to BMO for giving her printouts. Before she took BMO home, she put them in her journal. She wanted them to stay safe and private, out of the gaze of others. She liked remembering those simpler times before her mom left her all alone in the wasteland almost a millennia ago.

Part of her was so angry at her mom and another part yearned for her mom's love. She was so loving to Marcy as a child that it didn't make sense that her last memory was when her mom pushed her away. Her mom viewed her as a scary monster, Marcy knew it was because she had sucked the soul of a mutated wolf. At the time, she didn't even know how she was able to do it but the threat of her mom's life was enough to send Marcy into a protective demonic rage. But the look of horror on her mom's face haunted her subconscious. The look shattered the vampire's heart whenever she recalled the traumatic event. She didn't bother to consider the what-if's or whataboutisms, they all pointed to the same thing: her mom abandoned her. She left behind a young Marceline who held onto feelings of sadness and self-hatred.

Marcy took a deep breath to steady herself while she flew. There was happiness to seeing the pictures of her mom smiling and playing with a very young Marcy, but it carried a lingering sadness of what never could be. The photos were taken before the Great Mushroom War and there was nothing within Marcy's power to prevent one of the greatest tragedies that had befallen the world. Second to the blue comet that followed soon after the nuke made its horrific mark.

She accepted that her mom was dead and never coming back, she would never know what happened to her mom or if her mom loved her. This was Marcy's burden, the bane of an immortal and a half-demon existence. She would have had a long life over her mom's limited human lifespan even without the vampirism mucking it all up.

Marceline internally kicked herself as she realized she failed at her task to keep a clear head as the thoughts and feelings from the past came flooding back. All Marceline could do was cry while she was flying. She hated crying while flying, the tears got in the way of her navigating home. She stopped mid-air and wiped the tears off her face. She caught herself glancing towards the candy kingdom, home to the other woman with whom she shared a very complicated relationship.

They hadn't talked since the incident that turned her... Girlfriend? ... To a Jellybean Vomiting Tower of Pink Terror. Marcy tried, in vain, to talk to Bonnie immediately after LSP fixed everything. However, the Princess was way sneakier and managed to get away from the Vampire's sight. Marcy didn't want to think about what Bonnie thought when she was the tower but she couldn't push out the haunting voice. It sounded like the complicated object of her affection but it wasn't her. At least that's what she thought or how she tried to compartmentalize the situation. She didn't know what to think considering she would often put those thoughts away in the back of her mental box of cables. One day she'll go thru and untangle all those cables but there's a lot of them and she doesn't have the emotional and mental stamina to handle them at the moment. The thoughts and memories of her mom going back in the mental box as well for when she felt ready to tackle and reach her closure one day. Unfortunately, the Bonnibel Bubblegum cable was always flying out and tangling itself all over everything in her mind. She knew she needed to deal with it. She wasn't mad at Bonnie as much as she was mad at herself, mad at not being able to save Bonnie. Mad that she couldn't protect Bonnie from what happened to her. Marceline managed to get control of herself and stop crying enough to resume her flight home.

Besides her failed attempt to talk to Bonnie, Marcy hadn't tried to talk with her in several days. Marceline wasn't bothered by the radio silence, as she was notorious for doing the same to Bonnie, but now was the time to talk. Again. Marcy rolled her eyes at her thoughts, relationships always required talking about feelings, working through problems, and compromising. She wished things weren't so complicated but then again, this was what she wanted. She wanted to make whatever she and Bonnie shared work. She grew up a lot over the past few years, learning the importance of constructive, healthy, conversation. Sure, she had an image to maintain as an aloof bad attitude punk rocker, but that image was old and tired and didn't reflect how much she had changed as a person. It was very one-note and lacked any depth, but she used to be someone whose emotional depth and empathy had widdled away after the last of the humans left. Besides, while she could go back to that persona – considering everything she had done to repair her relationship with Bonnie, why go through all the trouble she went through to throw it away because it got too hard.

At the moment, she had made up her mind and decided to call Bonnie instead of popping in and invading her space without proper notice. When they both decided to try again they each had established boundaries with each other to help not fall back on old habits. One of the agreed-upon boundaries was both women had to notify the other if they wanted to come over. They operated at different schedules and it was only fair that they try and keep and an open line of communication and respect for each other's personal space. They wanted to set a solid foundation of trust to build - whatever it was - they had together.

There was a part of Marceline that was somewhat hesitant about jumping the gun and proclaiming her love for Bonnie with big parades and gratuitous displays of affection. That wasn't exactly Marceline, let alone Bonnie's, style of affection. It was Marcy's idea to keep what they were building as private as possible. Marceline figured that, as it stands, it would be better to keep their affection behind closed doors. Especially if things didn't work out between them, at least no one would ask too many questions as they'd be none the wiser. In case things went south, instead of cutting the other out for centuries - they'd remain as friends.

Marcy's reasoning for keep things private was accepted by Bonnie. Bonnie reasoned that she wanted to feel she had control over her personal life. Bonnie was fierce in maintaining her privacy about her feelings and who she allowed to see her in different states of vulnerability. To Bonnie, Marceline was the ultimate vulnerability, the only one allowed to see her as she is. Marceline thought Bonnie was far more paranoid in comparison, but she learned over the years that structural walls weren't the only walls Bonnie built for protection. Marceline knew that because she was partly responsible for helping build those mental walls. They had left their mark on each other after their nasty break-up and it wasn't exactly the healthiest from Bonnie's trust issues to Marceline's fears of abandonment. The marks left behind their issues worsened and cranked up to eleven in the centuries that followed. It took the last several years and friend intervention (unknown to their friends that's what they had done) to break those barriers. It would take more work to maintain their mental health, Marcy felt confident that she was stronger mentally more than ever. She had faith that Bonnie, despite her outward aloofness, worked on her emotional maturity.

Marceline made her way home and flew up to her bedroom to grab her phone. She took a deep breath and began to dial the phone number she had memorized a long time ago. 

*****

Princess Bubblegum was sitting in her lab, dressed in her science attire - stained lab coat, fuchsia turtle neck sweater, purple pants, slip-on’s, glasses, hair held up in a messy bun, visible bags under her eyes. She looked at a clipboard trying to make out what she wrote but unable to discern what it read. Everything looked like letters and symbols from another language in a different dimension.

PB heard a familiar ringtone on her phone - a special one from her vampire girlfriend, recorded by said vampire girlfriend in a nasal-sounding and deadpan voice: "hey nerd pick up or else" on repeat.

PB screamed and threw the clipboard over her shoulder, spun her chair around, attempt to grab the phone, not connecting that the clipboard she threw knocked over a beaker of a disgusting viscous liquid. The liquid spilled around her phone and off the desk. PB grabbed the phone, but it slipped from her grip like wet soap. Bonnie tried to grab it using her other hand but the phone slipped from one hand to the other – turning into a one-handed juggling performance. She managed to catch it by turning her lab coat into a sort of net. She wiped the phone and her hands using the lab coat like a giant napkin, it was clean enough to answer the call and put it on speaker.

"Marceline, what up." She said with an absent tone. She rolled her chair over to the shop towel dispenser, grabbed a bunch of towels to begin cleaning the mess she caused.

"Hey. Yeah, thanks for picking up. I know this is a spur-of-the-moment question, but are you busy?"

"Um yeah, I'm working in my lab."

"For how long?"

"Six days." Bonnie in her panic over the mess completely misunderstood the question Marceline asked her.

"WHAT?!" Marceline screamed on the other end.

PB heard a thud followed by an 'oof' from a certain butler in his room next to her lab. She cringed that he had heard Marceline's reaction. PB grabbed the somewhat clean phone with her somewhat clean hands, turned off the speaker, and put the phone up to her ear, holding it up by her shoulder, freeing her hands to continue cleaning the mess that was spreading out on her desk.

"... Uh yeah you know working on the important stuff." She trailed off, pulling out a trash can from under her desk and using the sleeves of her lab coat to sweep all the liquid and junk on her desk into the trash.

Marcy heard the sounds of falling junk and took notice of the distance in PB's voice. She pinched the bridge of her nose, furrowed her brow and sighed, "Remember what we talked about." She strained herself to speak in the best civil tone she could manage.

Silence from Bonnie, more sounds of junk and trash moving around.

"Uh. Yeah." Bonnie felt spaced out, in autopilot response mode, wiping large globs of shop towels on her desk and sweeping them into the trash.

Another silence and more trash shuffling.

Bonnie blanked out and came back to reality, "What did you say?"

Marcy began to mentally count down from five while she groaned, "Personal. Pizza."

"Ugh, I've had enough pizza for the last few days." PB made a disgusted face as she grabbed an old slice of pizza covered in who-knows-what and threw it into the trash.

"Holy crap, you are out of it. I'm not talking about the food, I'm talking about you needing some personal time."

Bonnie retorted, "This is personal time."

"Oh my glob, you are difficult to speak with when you're in this state of mind."

"What do you mean? I'm fine. Nothing to worry over." PB saying this while still sweeping the desk with her arm. Unbeknownst to the scientist, Peppermint Butler emerged from his room observing PB failing to collect her marbles. His brows furrowed and he shook his head towards her direction. Peppermint Butler snuck over to get closer to the princess, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Marceline made her way to her fridge, opened it, and rummaged through the shelves to find a nice red beet to snack on, "Ok. Sure. Believing what you say at face value, what have you been working on?"

The question had a specific weight to it, this was Marcy's trump card. She knew that if PB was working on something, she could explain it with ease and enthusiasm. Even if it meant Marcy had to listen to a very advanced, scientifically-driven, heavily researched experiment. She knew if PB was lying, because of how much she loved to talk about any project she was working on to anyone who was within listening distance.

PB's eyes shot wide opened realizing what her girlfriend asked, she looked around the messy lab. She found herself mouthing the words 'what am I doing' to herself - feeling that Marcy trapped her in a corner. The past few days were a total whirlwind in PB's mind, she did have a list of items for the following week, but once the memory of recent events came flooding back and all that she had done to everyone, she wanted to crawl deep into a work hole and never come out. It was difficult to keep it together around her people let alone be honest with her thoughts and feelings to her girlfriend.

She avoided having any sort of serious dialogue about what happened with the hopes of the issue would disappear if she focused on her work and gave everyone space from her. Forgive, forget. Especially her girlfriend. She could deal with people not liking her – she had developed a less than savory reputation for her paranoia, control, and power. She could not deal with what she perceived as her girlfriend being mad at her. Unfortunately, the person she was talking to would not forget, let alone forgive her for what happened. Bonnie assumed as much, she didn't want to deal with the spite. She wanted her and Marcy to return to normal before she became a Jelly Bean Vomiting Tower of Pink Terror.

PB needed a plan. Maybe, she thought, maybe she could throw her phone in the ocean. Leave Pepbut in charge while she ran away, changed her identity, changed how she looked, start a new life, never look back-

"Bonnie. Why are you talking about throwing your phone in the ocean and starting a new life?"

Bonnie began to panic, how could Marcy hear her thoughts? She knew Marcy had some extensive vampire powers but never knew that telepathy was one of those powers...

"Bonnie. I'm not a mind reader, you are saying what's on your mind."

Glob, ah jeez, Bonnie, use that big stupid dingus brain of yours and come up with a plan, you're donking this up. Maybe...

"BONNIE."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for proving my point. I'm coming to get you. You're going to shower and take a nap at my place. Then we're gonna talk once you're well-rested."

"No, no, no you're not. Everything is donked up right now in my lab! You're donking up my research - WHOA!" As she began to have a physical breakdown her loyal butler sprang into action and tackled a very sleep-deprived princess. He managed to grab her phone with little struggle and responded, "The princess will be waiting for you to arrive."

Marcy smiled, "Thanks Pep, I don't know what you did, but I owe you one. Alright! I'll be there in a jiffy." Peppermint Butler smirked and ended the call with the vampire queen.

"What the DIP, Pep? Why'd you donk up my steeze?"

"I'm going to pretend I don't understand a word you said. I listened in on your convo, it was pretty easy to hear." He handed back her phone and began to help her up, "Princess. You're going over to Marceline's house. You're going to clean yourself because you rank something fierce right now and you're going to sleep. Away from your work."

"B-but what about my lab?'

"I'll deal with it in the morning."

"But my work." The princess began to pout like an immature teen, not handling the conflict with the maturity and grace of a centuries-old grown-up trapped in the body of a nineteen-year-old.

"You don't think I peeked at your clipboard? It's literal lines and drawings of cats. You're not in any shape to work." Pep began to push her out of the lab and Bonnie did not have the energy to fight back.

PB muttered to herself, "... You're a drawing of a cat..."

Pep chose to ignore the weird attempt at a comeback, "Listen, you need time away. The kingdom will be fine for a day or two. I'll handle re-arranging your schedule. You need sleep. Lots of it.” He stopped pushing as they exited the lab. He closed and locked the door behind him to keep the princess from attempting to run back and hide in her hole of a lab. Pep took a gentle approach, grabbed her hand, and helped guide the princess to her room to help her get ready.

PB softened at his statement. He was right. Her avoidance to talk to Marceline caused her insecurities to manifest in the worst way possible. She cared about other people but the one she hurt the most was Marcy. She loved her. She was the only person she loved and Bonnie knew she hurt her in some way by trying to push her away instead of dealing with the conflict head-on. Bonnie made a lot of personal progress in her relationship with the vampire queen but the last several days were a relapse. She didn't want to go back to when she would shut out everyone, but old habits were hard to break. She had, in her mind, already assumed Marceline had not forgiven her for controlling her freewill.

Yet, she assumed that was Marceline's default reaction. Bonnie failed to pick up that Marceline expressed frustration coming from a place of genuine concern. Bonnie's anxieties lived rent free inside her head.

The walk to her room was quiet, she knew Pep wouldn't trust her to go to her room alone. He was right not to trust her. She would have ducked out and ran away the moment he let her on her own. He knew about her relationship with Marceline, he was the only one who knew that they were trying again. The butler found out the hard way when he walked into a very steamy make-out session after the two ladies had come back from a date. Of all the dark magic he knew, for the life of him, the Butler could not erase the image of the vampire pinned against the wall, legs wrapped around the Princess as she did who-knows-what to the vampire. Pep did not care for the details of what they did in the Princess's room. He learned his lesson to knock if the Princess and Marcy were sharing the same space.

Because as much as he wished he could forget, PB wished it double as much. Both ladies swore him to secrecy - they didn't want anyone gossiping as much as they already were thanks to Bonnibel's position of power. This was damage control and mitigating risk. Pepbut knew he was not a liability, his allegiance to the princess never faltered.

He never betrayed her trust, despite the one instance he sort of had a contingency plan to stake PB's demon vampire girlfriend if she ever went completely hog wild. To be fair, Marcy wasn't mad but PB felt disturbed by Pep's preparation. Marcy was always a blindspot to PB, whether the princess wanted to admit it or not. He knew the truth and regardless, he wouldn't do anything brash. That was not his style, besides he had a working relationship with the demon girl's dad that he'd like to maintain. The last thing he wanted to deal with was explaining to a very powerful dark entity that he was responsible for slaying the dark being’s child.

Pep went ahead and opened the door to Bonnie's bedroom. She dragged her feet as she entered her room, her head pointed downward, face stuck in a permanent frown. Peppermint Butler followed and closed the door behind them. He could hear a sigh escape her lips,

"Why are you two doing this to me?" She pouted towards her minty comrade.

"You and I both know you're of little use when you’re completely sleep deprived. I'm surprised you're not hallucinating an army of cats."

Princess Bubblegum looked back at Pep and her army of cute cats, shook her head, rubbed her eyes, and destroyed the hallucination in front of her. Her face turned nervous and refused to look the minty butler in the eyes, "ah, heh heh, what would give you that impression."

Peppermint Butler raised his eyebrow at her response and decided it would be in his best interest to move on.

She trudged over to her closet, throwing off her dirty clothes in the process. Pepbut turned around, walked backward while he grabbed each article of clothing off the floor without looking at her. Keeping his back to the princess, he made his way over to the hamper and threw the clothing in the basket. He was, above all things, a professional.

PB searched in her wardrobe for some pajamas. She figured she kept her dress-wear to simple and comfy. She didn't need to bring any clothes with her, she stored some clothing over her girlfriend’s house.

Bonnie recalled when Marcy told her about the King of OOO wearing her night clothing. She shuddered at the memory. When she returned to power, she had gone ahead and burned a lot of her outfits and sheets. She knew that no amount of washing would ever remove the wretched stank of a wax fraud. Fire can be good for purifying reasons, she made a mental note that she owed Flame Princess for her assistance with making a nice, big, and safe bonfire. Besides, it had been ages since she updated her wardrobe. She was able to get some duplicate outfits, but other items were harder to replicate and replaced with new ones.

She opted to wear teal workout shorts and a soft, tucked-in, loose dark pink shirt with an off-shoulder neckline. She rummaged thru her closet to find a pair of warm socks and yellow slippers to wear on her feet.

"Are you sure you wanna wear that?" A familiar voice came from the window.

PB, despite knowing who the voice belonged to, still jumped and shrieked in surprise. PB was mad tired and her ability to control her reactions was completely shot.The princess made a weird noise trying to find her voice, "Eeesh! How long have you been waiting there?"

"Peebs, as much as I would love to lie and see how you'd react. I just got here," Marceline said in an unceremonious tone. She floated her way over to Bonnie and continued, "it's kinda chilly outside, you sure you wanna wear shorts?"

Bonnie took a second to process the words that were coming out of Marcy's mouth. She assessed that they were, in fact, words. They were words that formed into a sentence and that sentence...

"Peebs, you're doing it again. You're saying your thoughts out loud," Marceline made her way to Bonnie's closet and rummaged for a second until she found the item she was looking for: the white sweater with the four colored stripes. She mentally noted that this sweater was going to serve a dual purpose and smiled. She grabbed it and turned around to face Bonnie, "c'mon, raise your hands to the sky! There we go."

Bonnie followed Marcy's command took and helped the vampire with putting the sweater on her body. Marcy took great effort to be gentle with Bonnie, she helped guide the girl into the sweater. To Marcy, this was the most she was going to get out of Bonnie right now. It wasn't so bad, Bonnie was at least cooperative despite her sleep deprivation. Marcy took a look at her with such heavy concern, Marcy saw the extent of how the sleep deprivation affected the princess. She mentally conceded to move the talking to another time if it meant that Bonnie got to sleep. A well-rested Bonnie was a thoughtful and engaging Bonnie.

"Why can't we stay here," Bonnie said in a whiny tired voice.

"Because you, me, and Pep know that the moment we let our guard down you'll be back in that lab."

"I promise I won't go back!"

Marcy waved her hands at the princess and shook her head with a smirk on her face, "Sorry Princess but you got outvoted. Two to one majority."

"This isn't a democracy." Bonnie gritted her teeth at the button Marcy pushed.

"It is now, you dingus. C'mon!" Marcy smiled and shape-shifted into her bat form in front of Bonnie. She bent down to allow PB to hop on and straddle her neck, "Hop on and hold tight!"

Marcy, while in her bat form, turned to Peppermint Butler and thanked him for his help. She flew off into the night with her complicated object of affection. He smiled and waved back to both the girls as they left into the night.

He liked Marcy, sometimes she was a good influence on the princess. While he did have his work cut out for him with PB's lab, that was an issue he would address in the morning after he's got some peace, quiet, and sleep. He had not slept in several day’s thanks to PB working in her lab. This was more for him than anything else. Pep smiled to himself and hoped she'd stay away for the next few days. She needed a break.

The ride to Marcy's cave was full of small talk to keep PB engaged during the ride. Save for the occasional PB closing her eyes and almost leaning over a bit too close for comfort off the flying bat. Her sole remaining reaction allowed her to catch herself in a state of panic and reorientate herself with a 'yelp'. Marcy noticed this and stopped flying. She moved her long arm up and around towards PB and grabbed the candy golem from her back. She arranged herself in the air to hold her bridal style on the last half of their journey. Marcy could at least hold on to PB while flying, she mentally kicked herself for trusting PB enough to hold on. The poor girl wasn't in any state to handle herself. PB was at least appreciative of this change in position and moved to snuggle closer into her girlfriend’s bat form. Marcy's fur was as soft as her hair and it was endearing and comfortable.

Marcy noticed PB moving and thanked glob that Peebs couldn't see her blushing. There was a part that wasn't used to receiving affection again. She never thought her relationship with Bonnie would re-kindle the way it did. It was a little funny how life played itself out, not everything doomed to tragedy. As much as she carried an outward bravado of nihilism and apathy, she knew it was a defense mechanism to protect herself. People couldn't leave her if she left them - that was an old motto of hers. She's lived long enough with herself to know when she defaults to that feeling. Her brief time as a mortal again allowed her that insight about herself.

Approaching the cave, she made sure to communicate to Bonnie that they were very close to Marcy's home and that she was descending. She somewhat makeout PB saying in a groggy haze, "what?"

As she approached closer to the ground and near her door, she began to shift back to her regular form. She kept hold of Bonnie until it was safe enough for Bonnie to stand on her own two feet.

"... Thanks Marcy for picking me up," Bonnie said in a monotone, tired, voice. She was having a difficult time keeping her eyes open, almost falling to the ground had it not been for the quick reflexes of her vampire girlfriend.

"Whoa, whoa, hey there. Let's get you inside. Don't need you sleeping the moment you fall on the floor." Marcy said as she grabbed Bonnie and maneuvered Bonnie's arm around Marcy's shoulder. Marcy wrapped her arm around Bonnie's waist, keeping the Princess stabilized while leading them both to the door of her house.

"You're a .. a... Uh... What?" Bonnie sounded like a total drunkard and Marcy chortled at her pathetic attempt at a response.

"Ok, let's go. The bed is not that far from here, c'mon, you can do it. Atta girl." Marceline managed to get the door open and guided Bonnie inside her house. Marcy used her foot to close the door once they were inside.

Marcy grabbed Bonnie and floated them up into her room and lead her to the bathroom. She continued to hold her and managed to get her to look Marcy in the eyes, "Hey, no offense Bon Bon, but you stink. You can take a shower, yeah?" Bonnie shook her head in affirmation, Marcy continued, "ok good, there's a towel in there for you to dry off. You know where everything is. Don't pass out."

"Ok," Bonnie gave Marcy a quick, little peck on the mouth, "you're such a sweet dorkus."

Bonnie smiled and managed to have enough energy to enter the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Left behind in Bonnie's wake was a blushing Marceline who didn't know what to do with herself. When Marcy heard the sound of running water, she snapped out of her daze and went to make her bed a little more comfortable for her guest.

First, she flew down to the kitchen and went to grab a glass of water for her sleepy girlfriend and placed it on the nightstand next to the bed. Second, she opened her closet and grabbed an extra pillow and comforter to throw on top of her bed. She rarely slept on her bed, usually favoring to float but since Bonnie started sleeping over Marcy found herself floating over her bed a little less. Marcy laid on the bed and grabbed a book that was on the floor next to the bed. Now all she did was wait and read before the princess emerged from her shower.

After a few moments, Bonnie came out of the shower, looking relaxed and dressed back in her pajamas, sans the sweater that she left hanging on the towel rack. Marcy looked up and smiled at Bonnie as she made her way to the right side of the bed and under the covers. Marcy put the book down and turned towards Bonnie. Both of them wrapped their arms around each other with Bonnie snuggling onto Marcy's neck. Marcy took the opportunity to smell and kiss the top of her girlfriend’s head, noticing the clean smell of her damp hair. Bonnie also took the moment to smell Marceline's shirt, feeling the wave of comfort wash over her.

"Marcy, are you ok with going to sleep? I know you're supposed to be awake right now..." Bonnie murmured with a tired voice.

"It's fine. I needed a nap anyway."

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to stress you out." Bonnie snuggled closer into Marceline.

Marcy smiled, "you're fine. You didn't do anything. We'll talk later, go to sleep."

It didn't take long for Bonnie to pass out in Marcy's arms. Marcy took a moment to enjoy the feeling of being close to the person she was pretty certain was her girlfriend. It felt nice. She could get used to this. Marcy focused on Bonnie's breathing, it was so calm and hypnotic and enough to lull her to sleep.

*****

She had a dream about the moon, it was a beautiful and bright night. She watched the moon while she sat on a calm beach. She could feel the sand between her toes and hear the crashing of the waves. She noticed her mom on the moon. She could see her mom smile, like the moonlight, she felt its soft warmth. She saw her mom try to speak to her but the words reverberated and echoed – it took a lot of focus and energy for Marcy to understand what her mom tried to convey. Before the feelings of peace could sit with her, Marcy saw the sand shifting and morphing into pink sugar and in front of her, the pink tower emerged from the water. Marcy was trying to scream and get away but the pink candy took over her body. As she assimilated into the tower she could hear the chilling emotionless words, "You're all my candy people, you're all so sweet!"

Marcy’s eyes shot wide open and gasped for breath as post-nightmare panic left its mark on her. She controlled her breathing, focusing on the rate at which she exhaled, She checked her surroundings: home, not a marshmallow, Bonnie is back to normal, sleeping next to her. Everything is not corrupted. Everything is back to normal. Marcy lifted a hand to her forehead and wiped the cold sweat from her face.

Marceline propped herself up by her elbows. She felt rested from the nap but uneasy from the rough dream. It wasn’t the first time she had this nightmare but the addition of her mom being in the dream made it awkward. It started pleasantly but the twist at the end was becoming old, quick. That was how all her dreams ended from the past several days. They’d start sweet and then decay into horror. When she dreamt, they were pretty weird dreams but this was a new dream she couldn’t see from any other side.

Marcy gently lifted herself from the bed as not to disturb Bonnie in her slumber. She was sleeping, out like a log, and no sign of getting up any time soon. Marceline took a moment to appreciate how peaceful Bonnie looked while slept. She floated her way to her bathroom, took off her pajamas, hopped into the shower, turning on warm water to let flow on her cool skin.

Marceline could at least differentiate between the tower and her love interest, they were two separate beings, one was a corruption of the other. As much as Patience St. Pim sought to have the four elementals reach their true potential it came at a price of everyone else losing their individuality. That was a hefty cost, one that stank of hubris and disregard for the wishes of all involved. She remembered when Bonnie told her what happened the first time Patience ordered Simon to kidnap the four princesses. First, she was angry at the ice idiot for manipulating Simon into kidnapping princesses again. Second, she was curious that Patience came from the same world as Simon and herself. Third, she laughed like a hyena when Bonnie told her how Patience tripped all over herself and got drenched in slime.

She remembered the first time Bonnie demonstrated her jellybean ability:

_Peppermint Butler is standing on the opposite side of the lab and holding a plate. Marcy floated in a laid-back positivity her arms crossed behind her head. Bonnie walked over to Marcy and handed over a pair of safety goggles to her. Marcy raised her eyebrow, before Bonnie could respond, and grabbed the pair to wear on her face. Bonnie smiled at her as she fit her pair over her eyes. She takes a few steps back from Marcy, taking a wide side stance to maintain, raised her arm, palm out towards Peppermint Butler._

_She gives Marcy a stern look, "Ok, now whatever you do. Don't laugh. I'm still trying to figure this out."_

_"Yeah, sure, Bonbon." Marcy unclear what Bonnie was demonstrating. Bonnie didn't have a proper scientific explanation for what she was about to show Marcy. She said she had to see it for herself to believe it._

_Bonnie closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, exhaled, opened her eyes, and began to concentrate on her hand. Sweat began to crease her brow and her grunting getting deeper when a line of jellybeans spewed, rather farted, out of Bonnie's hand, hitting the plate Peppermint Butler was holding. The jellybeans ricocheted all over the bedroom._

_Marcy was one part bewildered but could not stop snorting in Bonnie's direction. She felt impressed by what she was seeing but the sound of a chili cook-off gone wrong took her by surprise. Her laughter caused her to spiral in the air, as her girlfriend stopped her demo and started to look angry towards the vampire. Peppermint Butler took it as his cue to leave when he saw the Princess stomp towards the Vampire Queen. He closed the door behind him, it was gonna get messy._

_She tried to stop cracking up at the jellybeans farting out of Bonnie's hand, but the recent memory was too fresh in her head. In-between her laughter, she'd try to compliment Bonnie on her new elemental ability but kept losing it when she reminded herself of the farting sounds._

_She laughed so hard, she lost concentration and fell on the floor of Bonnie's bedroom with a thud and a small 'ow' replaced with more laughing. Bonnie stood over Marcy with a look of faux-anger, sucked in her cheek, shook her head at the childish vampire she called her girlfriend. She pinched the bridge of her nose and rolled her eyes,_

_"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," she said and proceeded to sit and straddle the felled girl. Bonnie got over herself and joined in Marcy's laughter, accepting the absurdity that, yeah, her hands fart out jellybeans now. She lowered her face down to Marceline's, who was still giggling and gave her a soft kiss. They had a pretty sweet makeout session afterward, good times._

When the dust settled and everyone was back to normal, Marceline wasn’t sure what happened to Patience. She disappeared without any consequence and all that managed to do was piss Marceline off that she couldn't beat the ice out of that tranch. At least she tried to do something to help Bonnie, even though it was all in vain. That thought also pissed her off, even more, she was one of the strongest beings out there and that wasn’t enough to protect Bonnie. She remembered how she tried to free her from the elemental curse and yet all the tower could say was “Let me help you, you don’t need to help me. I am who I was always meant to be and you… you’re meant to be by my side. Let me fix you, you don’t need to cry anymore because you are so sweet.”

In her mind, she had to accept her fate. She reasoned if she couldn't revert Bonnie to normal, she could try to protect her. The feeling of turning into a marshmallow was so weird, but it felt like she was being held in a very intimate way. It felt warm and inviting, feeling like a toasted marshmallow. Ok, stop, stop, stop, Marceline, we've been through this: You. Are. Not. A. Marshmallow. You are a badass half-demon vampire who couldn't save her … girlfriend... from a stupid tranch because you're stupid.

The half-demon vampire couldn't help but groan over her internal berating. She slammed a closed fist at the tiled wall, enough to make a noise but not break the wall. Marceline looked at her hands and saw they were their normal pale gray tone. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths mentally taking note of the things around her. Keeping herself grounded by focusing on the feel of water pitter-pattering on her skin, the sound of water droplets colliding on porcelain, the warmth of the water, the clean smell of soap and shampoo. A little bit of everything to keep her right where she needed to be: home.

Marcy reached over for the faucet to turn off the water and got out of the tub. Taking a moment to dry herself off, brush her teeth, and put her wet hair up into a ponytail. Being mindful of her sleeping guest, she wrapped the towel around her body and floated her way over to the closet, and threw on jeans, a shirt, a light brown leather jacket, socks, and black tennis shoes, she also grabbed her acoustic guitar. Knowing that Bonnie was safe and sleeping on her bed, she decided she would go outside for fresh air. She wanted to feel the warm glow of moonlight tonight, it felt right to her.

She flew out of her house and far up enough away to be up in the clouds. She could sort of see the entrance to her house but she knew the sleeping being in her house wouldn't know.

Marceline pulled out her little pocket journal full of lyrics, took note of some lines she wrote today, put the journal away, and thought some more. She started to think about what chords she was feeling today. Her fingers taking shape to the familiar minor seventh chords, they always felt appropriate when she was dealing with general sad feelings.

After a few tries, she managed to get the right sort of chord progression down using the minor seventh chords. She liked to keep things simple when she wrote songs like this. It didn't need anything complicated or technical. Bearing her heart and soul for the moon to see.

She continued to play some old songs and a few covers she had learned from records and tapes she obtained while scavenging. There was one song that had been on her mind that she liked a lot. It was from a worn-out record sleeve but somehow the record was in good condition. The only thing she could make out was The Bunnymen - a funny name for a band from back in the pre-mushroom war days. It was a song that felt appropriate to play a tribute to the moon. While she was still figuring out the song, she managed to figure out the chords in the song. She began to sing half of the song out:

  
_Under blue moon, I saw you_  
  
_So soon you'll take me_  
  
_Up in your arms, too late to beg you_  
  
_Or cancel it, though I know it must be_  
  
_The killing time_  
  
_Unwillingly mine_  


She sang out the chorus and continued to sing the verses to the best of her memory. She'd still need to transcribe whatever the heck the singer was saying. To Marceline's delight, it wasn't as difficult as other bands she had come across.

Time passed for Marceline and her fingers were feeling the burn of playing for so long. It was never painful but fatigue was still something she had to account for despite being a vampire. She gave the moon her goodbye's for now and floated her way back home.

The house was still quiet and Marceline took a moment to check on Bonnie. Still sleeping, still normal, still herself - that was all that mattered to the vampire. She smiled and felt a warmth in her chest, she did miss the peace that came with watching her ... Girl that she was currently dating... Sleep. She frowned at her unwillingness to call Bonnie her 'girlfriend.' To the vampire, she did not want to default to clingy. The last time she defaulted to clinginess is what got her in trouble in the past. The last thing she wanted was Bonnie to feel suffocated by the vampire's neediness. That scared her the most, that was what influenced her to establish boundaries. She needed to have a set of rules for herself. Imposing so much on wasn't healthy either. Finding balance can be difficult when she was trying to figure things out. When she tried to grow up.

She needed to get more fresh air when it had dawned on her that there wasn't any food for Bonnie to eat when she woke up. Marcy wasn't much of a cook so she thought the next best thing was to try and get some pre-made munchies. Sounded like she needed to take a trip to the Grocery Kingdom. She pulled out her little journal and wrote a small list of items to get for Bonnie, good enough for a day or two. If Bonnie intended to stay longer, Marcy didn't assume but she wanted to be prepared if she did stay for longer than a day.

  1. Bon's favorite soda
  2. Frozen spaghettio
  3. Somethingweet
  4. Something breakfast



She floated above Bonnie, taking in one last look, and gave her a little kiss on her forehead, whispering to her that she'll be back. Not as if Bonnie could hear, but it was the thought that counted. She flew out to run her errands for the night, deciding she would take her time while out.

*****

Out of focus, blurry eyes try to rearrange and make sense of the surroundings in front of her. The room was dim, the figure was able to open her eyes without having to deal with intense light hitting her face. Despite the lack of light, heavy eyelids made waking up difficult as they continued to close. The pink body began to shift and noticed the bed, while somewhat familiar, was not hers. She turned her head and took a deep sniff of the pillow she was laying on - that scent. The scent she was so familiar with and felt so comforted by over the centuries, she smiled into the pillow. She was in Marceline's home, sleeping on her bed.

Wait. How did I get here? The thought immediately caused her to open her eyes in shock. What happened? How long was she asleep? Think, Bonnie, Think. The last memory she recalled was being in her lab - HER LAB.

The memories were too fuzzy to recall with complete clarity. She could only remember bits and pieces. She thinks Pepbut may have tackled her on the ground. She sort of remembered Marcy coming to her lab? Was it her lab? Or her room? She remembered being in the air, flying with Marcy. So Marcy must've brought her here, there was no way she'd get here on her own. There were some puzzle pieces to fill and she could ask Marcy to give her some idea of what happened.

On the topic of Marcy, she must be so mad at her. Was it Pepbut who called Marceline to grab her? Was it out of obligation she felt she had to assist the princess? Bonnie figured that Marcy was already ticked off and this could have made it worse.

The anxiety came creeping back and the fear that Marcy would kick her out the moment Bonnie felt rested sat hard on Bonnie's chest. She felt like she was intruding in on Marcy's space but not because Marcy wanted her here. She sank into the bed and pulled the sheets over her head. Groaning into the pillow in frustration and face flushed with embarrassment over feeling like such a burden.

"Hey, are you awake?" A gentle, familiar voice asked from the floor entrance of the bedroom.

Bonnie stayed quiet under the sheets; she completely had not considered that the person who occupied this space had good hearing thanks to her vampiric abilities. She could hear the other person chuckling to herself and moved away from the bedroom entrance. Bonnie sighed but figured that would alarm said person again to her being awake.

Bonnie decided to take a few moments for herself, calm her anxiety, and rest for a little longer. She didn't feel rushed, from the sound of Marcy's voice how she asked the question wasn't impatient but curious. Bonnie closed her eyes, resting a little longer wouldn't hurt. The soft sound of music was coming from downstairs, it was at a low enough volume where it didn't bother Bonnie. It sounded pleasant to hear while she was rested. She snuggled into the pillows and blankets, enjoying the scent of her girlfriend. She was still worried about how Marcy thought of her, she also felt she was owed this little moment of peace... and a shower, too.

*****

After Marcy had checked to see if her intimate friend was awake or still sleeping, she floated back down and turned on her record player. Making sure to adjust the volume to a low but listenable volume. She spent her time cleaning the downstairs of her house. Her house was usually pretty clean, save for some small amount of clutter that may collect like a few records sitting against the wall or a random book on the floor. It was never anything out of control, most people had a perception that she lived a life of punk rock mess. That wasn't a hundred percent true, but she didn't exactly care about that particular perception. She knew how she took care of her spaces and if anyone asked, she wouldn't give them an answer. Why ruin the mystery?

Hunger began to creep up on Marceline as she finished her cleaning. It wasn't a heavy hunger and decided a couple of beets would do the trick. She was glad she went to the store - she needed to get some food for herself, two birds one stone she thought.

As she sucked the red from the beet, she heard the gentle sound of feet walking across the wood floor above towards the bathroom. Ah, she lives. Marceline thought while switching up for some red tea. She heard the running water and lounged around, swaying to the rhythm of music, sipping the red out of her tea, trying to calm the heavy beating of her own heart due to the anticipation of seeing Bonnibel awake and not delirious. As soon as she heard the water shut off, she made her way back to the kitchen and kept her back to the ladder, trying to keep herself calm. Marceline felt very nervous to see Bonnie, as much as she tried to keep a cool levelheaded persona she was an inward emotional mess of feelings.

She heard the soft hop off the ladder and turned her head to greet her guest, "Hey, you're awake. Good morning."

Bonnie sucked in her breath, trying not to panic when she heard a very cool greeting. The calm before the storm here goes nothing.

"Morning, I'm sorry you had to let me crash here." Bonnie approached the kitchen and held her hands behind her back. Bonnie tried her best to not look nervous or excited to see her girlfriend. She didn't want to get her hopes up. Marcy glanced over to Bonnie, taking notice that her hair was in a low ponytail and she looked way better versus her state when she was scienced out and sleep-deprived.

Marceline smiled and shook her head towards PB, "Sorry? You don't have anything to be sorry over. It's ok. I don't mind – glad to see you were able to sleep." She gave Bonnie a pursed grin, she was trying to show she was completely ok with her staying over without it coming off as clingy and desperate for her affection. Everything was completely cool as a cucumber, definitely not desperate.

She looked around the kitchen and rubbed the back of her neck, "... You, uh, hungry? I, uh, went to the Grocery Kingdom while you were sleeping and, uh, picked up a few items. Not a whole lot of stuff didn't want to go overboard, but I got some easy to make, ready to eat, breakfast, lunch, and dinner in case you felt like eating..." She floated over to her cabinet while she rambled and grabbed a small plate and went over to the fridge.

"Considering you're my guest here, I didn't want you to have to cook either." She opened the fridge and grabbed a breakfast pastry. Plopping it on the plate and handing it over to Bonnie.

Bonnie took the small plate of food, gave the vampire lady a sheepish crooked smile, "Y-yeah, I am a little bit hungry. To be honest, I don't remember the last time I ate."

Marceline raised her eyebrow towards Bonnie, she wanted to lecture her about the importance of taking care of herself but sighed and shook her head, "Oh Bonnibel."

Bonnie blushed but felt the weight of guilt, she took a bite of the pastry and set the plate down on the little table, "About recently, I wanted to talk to you and apologize for, for..." Bonnie was having a hard time finding the right words to explain how she felt, her hands were rubbing together, while she tried to find the words. Marcy put a hand on Bonnie's exposed shoulder, rubbing her thumb on Bonnie's bare skin. Bonnie tried not to gasp at the touch but the softness of the touch felt nice. She managed to keep it together in front of Marcy.

"Hey, uh, don't stress yourself too much. I want to talk to you too but why don't you eat first before we start getting too heavy, ok?" There it was, the gentleness, the concern, the consideration, they were all there for Bonnie and she couldn't help but feel like it was undeserving. Marcy should be in a rage and kicking her out vowing never to see the candy girl ever again. She sucked the inside of her cheek and bit down. She nodded, looking slightly dejected but agreed to the vampire’s request, Bonnie sat down at the small table and began to eat. Bonnie laid back into the chair, doing her best to focus on eating the breakfast her considerate girlfriend provided. Marcy turned toward the cabinets, grabbed a glass, and filled it with water from the sink. She placed it on the table in front of Bonnie, at that moment she decided to take her hand and gently lay it on Bonnie's cheek, guiding her to look into her eyes.

"I care about you. I still want to talk to you. It'll be ok, we’re in this together." She smiled at Bonnie. She wanted to at least affirm to Bonnie that she cared. Bonnie held back her tears, sniffed, and put her hand up to Marcy's, squeezing it, "Thank you." She said in a quiet voice. She needed Marcy more than anything and she was thankful for her patience.

Bonnie ate her breakfast in relative silence. Taking the time while eating to reel her emotions back. Marcy moved to the living room, floating over to her small stereo system, opening her turntable to flip the record to the other side. A little music to help the mood, fill the silence with comforting sounds. The first song on the b-side was the song she had been trying to learn recently. She hummed along to the song, occasionally singing certain parts to herself. She opted to sit on the floor and relax a bit, she was winding down for the day. The nap she had taken early gave her a few extra hours to stay up but sleepiness was starting to make its home in her. She heard the soft clink of a plate going into the sink and a short moment passed when she felt Bonnie taking a close seat next to Marceline. She leaned her head on Marcy's shoulder, taking note of the music, "This sounds nice..."

Marcy smiled, wrapped her arm around Bonnie, drawing her in closer. Once again, smelling her clean hair, and feeling that peace inside.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened last week." Marcy was silent and PB continued, "I am so sorry for what I did. I am so, so, so sorry for turning you and controlling you into a shell of yourself. I had no control over myself, I couldn't stop myself from doing what I had done..." The tears started to come down and she put her face in her hands, she began to shake as she was crying.

"Marcy, there's a lot of things I don't remember when I was in that state but I do remember telling you I could fix you. That. That wasn't right. That was so messed up. You're not a problem to be fixed you're you a-and..." She tried to finish what she wanted to say when Marceline pulled her into a tight and loving hug.

"... A-and I love you. I don't want to lose you. I don't. I need you in my life, y-you remind me that I need to learn to enjoy living. Yet the first thing I do is go back to my old ways and push you away." Bonnie sucked in a sharp breath and lifted her head to look at the love of her life. Tears were coming out of the vampire’s eyes as well, they stared at each other for what felt like an eternity and closed the gap, locking their lips in a passionate kiss. This time it was Marcy taking control and Bonnie's body language suggested that she wanted Marcy to take control. Bonnie was feeling vulnerable and needed the other’s reassurance. Marcy gently laid Bonnie on the floor, she kept her body light as a feather on top of the pink girl. Bonnie wrapped her arms around Marcy's neck and enjoyed the taste of her mouth. Marcy pulled away from kissing to look at the person she acknowledged as her love, with more confidence in the thought of how much she loved her. She was and touched her forehead against Bonnie's.

"Bonnie, I want you to know that I'm not mad at you. I know that while that was you in a sort of weird physical sense, it wasn't who you are. You had no control what that... That... Stupid ice tranch did to you and everyone else." She gave her a gentle kiss where the tears stained Bonnie's face and continued, "I wish I could have done something more. I tried, but it wasn't enough, and there was nothing I could have done that would change anything. I realized the best thing for me to do was, at that moment, assimilate and try to protect you, ya know?" The tears were starting to come down harder for Marcy, she didn't like to admit her weakness to anyone, let alone Bonnie.

Bonnie lowered her hand to touch Marcy's face, "Thank you for trying. Thank you." She brought Marcy down to kiss her tears away and continued to kiss her deeper. She moved her hand from Marcy's face down to her waist and under her shirt, touching her bareback with her fingertips. Marcy was feeling exhilaration from her touch and started to put a little more weight on Bonnie. Bonnie obliged to the weight and spread her legs to allow Marcy to get closer. She needed to feel closer to Marcy and moaned into the vampire’s mouth when she felt body contact.

In-between kissing, Marcy muttered, "promise me something," Bonnie hummed in the affirmative, "if something is bugging you, please talk to me. I want you to talk to me. Don't hide from me, please." She stopped kissing Bonnie and looked at her with a deadly serious expression.

"I promise. I know I may screw up from time to time but I'm going to do my best."

"It's ok, you and I have things we have to figure out together and on our own. We have time."

"Marcy?"

"Yeah?"

"How ... How do you feel about what happened?"

Marcy sighed. As much as this position of being on top was comfortable, she had a feeling Bonnie wasn't going to like what she had to say. She lifted herself from Bonnie and sat cross-legged. She looked extremely thoughtful as she looked around the room, trying to take her time to come up with a considerate but honest response.

"After we turned back to normal. I never forgot what happened, like I was fully aware of what was going on but I had no control over what I said or did.” She rested her chin on her hand, keeping her gaze away from Bonnie.

“Lately, when I go to sleep I would have these dreams. Normally my dreams are pretty weird, but nothing that out of the ordinary. Lately, they all end the same way. I see the tower. I don't see you per se, just the monolith and what it represents. I can hear you but it's like recalling a distorted tune and like I can't put a face to the voice even though I know it's you. I become engulfed and before I'm completely transformed, I wake up in a panic." She looked over to Bonnie and tested the waters by gently putting her other hand on the other girl’s thigh, softly rubbing it. She noticed that Bonnie didn't flinch or push her hand off, Marcy took that as a good sign.

"It's sort of maddening, but I know that dreams can be a reflection of events that passed. I think I react that way not because it was real but it was my brain reminding me that there was nothing I could do to stop it."

Bonnie felt the heaviness of what Marceline was saying, Bonnie was lucky enough to not remember everything she had done but she put that curse of memory on everyone else. She sat up and looked at the ground. Feeling the shame that she was partly to blame for Marcy's nightmares, it was her who was the tower. No one else. "I am so sorry... I don't know what to say."

"It's ok. As I said, I'm not mad at you for what happened. I can separate that you and the tower. You are not the same even if you are to an extent. You had no control over what you became."

"What bothers me the most about the feelings I can recall is that when I was the pure elemental form, I experienced corruption of desire. Something I had wanted but the way it took hold felt completely wrong."

Marceline has a puzzled look on her face, her first instinct was to react but searching within she found curiosity, "What do you mean?"

"Like, you know how I came from the mother gum? How I was connected to my various siblings? There was always a part of me that missed being part of the gum after I was separated. Sure, I had my brother but he was always fine with just having me and mostly keeping to himself. That's part of the reason why I made the candy people, it was my way of coping with the separation. To not feel so alone in a world that was cruel and hostile. However, thanks to Patience being a meddling idiot and not considering what could happen, she put something on us that we had no frame of reference to handle turning us into very dangerous forms of ourselves.” Bonnie tested the waters and put her hand over Marcy's, the vampire did not flinch or pull back. Bonnie took it as a good sign.

"I don't know if I can become that -thing- again. To be honest, I don't want to find out. If I go through my entire life never returning to that form, I would be completely OK. As much as I needed a connection, I've found deeper connections with the small number of people I've let in my life.” she smiled weakly at her vampire girlfriend and Marcy gave her a reassuring smile back.

"I feel like my elemental abilities have caused more harm than good. There's not enough ink and paper in Ooo to list all those I harmed thanks to these good-for-nothing abilities. I'm scared about it happening again and I never want that to go down."

Something clicked in Marceline, it was a tiny bridge of understanding what Bonnie was explaining to Marcy. She understood the true cost of power and how to be responsible.

"Bonnie, remember when we had to deal with the vampires?" Bonnie tilted her head, not sure what that had to with what she was talking about. Marcy took Bonnie's look like enough of a cue to continue, "You know when I had to save Simon from the Empress. She and I were fighting, you came in and shut her down? Yeah, well, she had this ability to mesmerize people with her eyes. In the wrong hands, it's really dangerous.

"I have that ability. I can mesmerize people if I wanted to but I won't and I refuse to. People don't forget if you've mesmerized them. It's a vicious cycle, that's why the Empress was so dangerous. All she has to do was look at you and -Boom!- say goodbye to your life because she'd never let you go. And if you somehow managed to get away, you'd still live with those memories of what she made you do.” Marcy reminded herself of the humans she was able to save from the Empress, the sound of crying and regret when they recalled all they were forced to do. It was a horrifying memory.

"I understand it's not an exact comparison, but you're talking to someone who has a lot of abilities that I have to be responsible for. Ok, yes I do abuse my floating ability but like C'MON you'd be a huge donkus not to. Sorry. Tangent over. The point is: the majority of my powers are not something I use willy nilly. I had to learn them, learn to control them, learn to live with them, and that means coping with my weaknesses. Like not drinking blood. You wanna know the trial and error I had to go through just to figure out I could consume shades of red? Trust me. I've done things I'm not proud of but I learned, adapted, and more importantly forgave myself for the mistakes I made. I survived all these centuries without having to sink to a vampire’s level. If someone like me can do it, you can learn how to be responsible as well."

Bonnie sat with Marcy's insight in her head. The fact that Marceline had lived longer than Bonnie made the pink candy girl appreciate her wisdom. Marceline was not wrong - she had centuries of coping with the burden of being the last remaining vampire. She made it work. Why couldn't Bonnie? She sat in thought for a few moments, reconciling with her previous actions. She wasn't going to get over what happened just from having this conversation but she would at least gain some peace and perspective.

"You're right. Maybe I can learn to cope with my abilities."

"See? Girl, trust me! I've had centuries figuring it out. You've had, what, a few months? Barely. Plus you're Bonnibel Bubblegum, the brainiest brain-lord that ever brained. You can do it, just take baby steps. Keep it simple, stupid."

"K-I-S-S." Bonnie spelled out.

"Exactly." She gave Bonnie a big toothy dorky smile. Bonnie loved that smile.

"Speaking of..." Bonnie pulled Marcy back to her and resumed kissing her. Leaning backward onto the floor and pulling the vampire with her. Bonnie resumed touching Marcy's bareback, drawing small circles. Marcy wrapped her arms around Bonnie's neck, bringing them closer together as they laid on the floor one on top of the other. They both smiled into the kiss, enjoying the taste and warmth of each other. They shared the same thought that if this what they'd get by talking out their problems, maybe they ought to do that more often. After a moment, they both regrettably pulled back but their eyes remained locked on to each other.

"Bonbon, I hate to say this but I'm getting pretty sleepy..." She pressed her forehead to hers, "would you stay with me?"

Bonnie closed her eyes briefly, bit her bottom lip, and smiled, "yes, I would like that." They both helped each other up and Marcy let Bonnie go up the ladder first. Bonnie looked down, saw Marcy staring up at her, and quipped, "enjoying the view?" Which caused the vampire queen to intensely blush, looked away, and stammer that she was just spacing out because she was tired as she floated up the ladder. Bonnie gave her a sly look teased, "Oh my glob! What am I to you? Old chewing gum?"

Marcy rolled her eyes, "Har har, Peebs. Fine. You got me. You're hot. Ok?"

Bonnie pumped her arms in the air, "Yus! I win!" She said in a goofy deep voice. All Marcy could do was side-eye her girlfriend and break into laughter. "And you call me a dork."

"I'm eccentric, there's a difference." Bonnie stuck her tongue out at Marcy. Marcy smirked and raised a single eyebrow, "See what happens if you keep sticking your tongue out."

Bonnie laughed, "Maybe I wanna find out."

"Gah! Why do you keep calling my bluffs!"

"Because it's easy and..." She got very close to Marcy's face, looking down at her lips before looking back to her eyes with a sultry glare, "I know I'll get an easy reaction from you."

Marcy went to close the gap, but Bonnie stepped back, "But not without a chase." Bonnie raced over to the bed. She knew Marcy was faster than her but it was still fun to try. As expected, Marcy reached her before Bonnie could jump into the bed. Bonnie jumped right into Marcy's arms and both girls started laughing, falling into the bed.

They moved further up on the bed and went under the covers.

"I'm glad we talked," Bonnie said while nuzzling her nose against Marcy's, "I'm still sorry for avoiding you because I thought you were angry at me. I was wrong. I should have just talked to you from the get-go."

"It's fine, to be honest, I think I needed some time to process everything too. I'm just glad we're back to normal. And I'm glad I got you out of that lab. Don't get me wrong, I know you do important stuff but six days of no sleep is a bit ridiculous.”

"Yeah, it was. To be honest I don't even know what I was working on. I think I just wanted to hide and never come out until either the world ended or everyone forgot."

"You know I wasn't going to let that happen."

"Yeah, for the better." Bonnie giggled at her girlfriend’s persistence.

Marcy smiled but was unable to fight back the yawn, she stretched out her limbs while she yawned. "Oh, uh, actually before I sleep. I'm gonna take a quick shower. Wait for me, ok?" She floated out of bed but not before giving Bonnie a little kiss on her cheek.

"Ok, I'll be here." Bonnie smiled into Marceline's quick little peck. Bonnie snuggled into the sheets while she waited for Marceline to come back, taking in a deep sniff of Marcy's scent.

As soon as she saw Marceline closed the door to her bathroom. Bonnie grinned devilishly, she was pretty worked up from the on-again off make-out session. She took the opportunity to take off her clothes and throw them on the floor to her right. She didn't want Marcy to get any clue she was naked, she wanted to keep the surprise. Bonnie pulled the blankets up to her neck, the perfect setup. They had not had sex yet, just a lot of heavy petting. They weren't in any rush, they rekindled their romantic relationship only six months ago. In the grand scope of time, it wasn't that long.

Bonnie was taking a chance, worst-case scenario Marcy would politely decline and they'd still snuggle. There was a breakthrough in communication and that was wonderful in Bonnie's mind. They had grown so much over the centuries it gave Bonnie so much hope for the future. They weren't perfect but they were strong.

Bonnie heard the water stop running after a few minutes. She got herself ready and closed her eyes, waiting for her girlfriend to return to bed. After a few minutes, she felt the depression on the bed and sheets moving.

Marcy raised an eyebrow; she saw her girlfriend had her eyes closed and a very wide smile on her face, "You're pretending to be asleep, aren't you?"

"No no, I am legitimately asleep. This is me sleep-talking. Please leave a message after the snoring. Paaa-shoooo, paaa-shoooo..." Bonnie could barely hold back her giggling.

"That was like the worst snoring imitation I've heard in my life," Marceline carefully went under the covers. Bonnie opened her eyes, turning to her side to face Marceline, who also pulled up the covers to her neck, "Did you, ahh, wanna cuddle?" She asked Bonnie, her face flushing a deep pink.

Bonnie gave a shy nod and both slowly moved to close together. The realization dawning on both of them at the same time, "You're naked!" They both said in unison, laughing, and blushing furiously.

It took them no time to start touching each other and pull themselves closer together. There was the silent agreement that they wanted each other physically. They had teased enough already today. Marcy continued to take the lead and softly shifted herself to being on top. Locking and intertwining their fingers together, Marcy softly licked Bonnie's bottom lip, requesting to allow her tongue into Bonnie's mouth. Bonnie acquiesced and both tongues came into light contact, a thin forked tongue lightly caressed Bonnie's tongue. Both lightly sucking the other’s tongue, the sensation itself felt intoxicating. The taste of each other's mouths was complimentary, adding to the feeling of arousal. Marcy moved from Bonnie's mouth towards kissing her neck and lightly licking near the collarbone, Bonnie felt an intense pleasure and moaned at the vampire kissing one of her more sensitive areas. Marcy reacted to her lover’s moaning with a little nip on the neck, sending more shivers down Bonnie's spine. She didn't want to bite down too hard, she only wanted to send a message of desire.

Marcy continued to move downwards on the Princess’s body. Licking her lips as she took sight of Bonnie's beautiful breasts. They were always the perfect size for her hand and mouth, she took the opportunity to release one of her hands from Bonnies. The vampire lightly caressed the left breast while placing a hot breath over the right one. Her tongue gently licking the tip of the pink girl's nipple. Bonnie took her free hand and laid it on the back of Marcy's head, gently guiding her to her breast. Marcy allowed this control and gave her lover what she wanted, gently sucking and licking the right breast while softly kneading the other. The pleasure was intense enough for Bonnie to wrap her legs around Marcy's body. Marcy's heightened senses smelled the sweetness of her lover’s drenched core. Bonnie's hips pushed onto Marcy's waist allowing some of her wetness to paint Marcy's stomach. That feeling was incredibly sexy and Marcy couldn't resist a muffled moan to come out, sending light reverberations and vibrations onto Bonnie's breast.

"Y-you feel so good, Marcy." She moaned out, part of what she loved about being able to make love in this space was being as loud as she wanted. She didn't have to worry about prying eyes or ears. This was a private space for only the two of them.

Marcy loved the non-verbal encouragement from her love and continued to trail kisses further south on her love's warm pink body. She moved her hand from Bonnie's breast and hiked up both of her legs onto Marcy's shoulder. Marcy paused to admire get beautiful lover splayed out like a delicious meal she was about to partake. Admiring the beautiful wetness of the woman's core, using her forked tongue to gently lick the sides of her inner thigh. She used her one hand to spread one of Bonnie's legs and used the other hand to lightly caress her inner thighs. Marcy smiled as she heard her lover beg for more, begging to be tasted. Marcy enjoyed taking her sweet time, teasing Bonnie with a lightly lick of her swollen clit. Bonnie moaned even louder at the teasing and began to put pressure on the back of Marcy's head. Unable to say that she wanted to be eaten out by her girlfriend due to the intense pleasure that was built up by the teasing Marcy was unfairly doing to her.

The vampire girl couldn't help but smile wider at her girlfriend’s desire. While she wanted to be a good girlfriend, she sort of loved the reactions she was getting from teasing the woman. She reasoned that she didn't want to go overboard with the teasing and wanted to taste her love. It had been centuries since the last time they had made love and the vampire queen wanted to savor every moment. She continued to trail soft kisses, tiny nips, light licks on the inner thighs and outer folds of Bonnie's body. Marcy inhaled her loves sweet smells and went in to quench her thirst. Bonnie practically yelled at contact, tightly gripping the sheets on the bed. As she began to suck and kiss at her clit, she used a finger to tease Bonnie's vagina. The sensation caused Bonnie to moan even louder, Marcy took it as her cue to insert two of her fingers inside of Bonnie's vagina. Bonnie screamed at the new sensation, arching her back in response to what her lover was performing on her body. Bonnie's moans sounded like beautiful music to Marcy's ears. The feeling of being inside of her was electrifying, sending shivers down her own spine. Her fingers expertly pushed upwards into her vagina, sending further waves of pleasures in Bonnie's abdomen. 

Both of Bonnie's hands gripped the sheets of Marcy's bed on both sides. Bonnie's hips arched into Marcy's mouth giving more better access to her clit. Marcy hummed into Bonnie, sending vibrations from her mouth into her clit. Marcy took a free hand and began to touch herself. She wanted to feel as good as her girlfriend, when an idea struck her. She stopped her movements and shifted her way back up to Bonnie's face, gave a quick peck. Bonnie had a hazy look in her eyes, "W-why did you stop?" She was panting heavily from what Marcy was doing to her body. Marcy gave her a smile and began to shift her body to press both of their cores together. The movement caused Bonnie to snap out of her haziness and with wide eyes, looked down to see both of their clits touching. 

"That. That was why." Marcy smiled devilishly at the other woman as she moved down to give a passionate kiss. Allowing Bonnie to taste herself from the kiss. Bonnie moaned into the kiss as their tongues clashed together. She wrapped her arms around Marcy and Marcy did the same for her, they began to softly move to a slow rhythm. 

They looked each other in eyes, foreheads touching, breathing becoming an erratic and their moans collectively getting louder. Their open mouths connected again to sloppily kiss, the heat between the legs becoming too much.

"M-Marcy, I-I'm gonna..." She could barely finish her sentence when she felt the white heat of climax wash over her. She clutched onto her vampire lover for dear life as she felt the intense wave of total pleasure.

Marcy was not far behind, clutching on to Bonnie tightly, moaning loudly into Bonnie's mouth as her orgasm was too powerful to form any coherent speech beyond loud moaning. All she managed to do was clutch on to her lover as if her life depended on it.

They stayed in the same position, not wanting to break away quite yet. In the aftermath, noses rubbing against each other, they took a moment to have a pleasant laugh over how content they felt. Bonnie's one hand playing with Marcy's soft dark hair and the other softly caressing her lover’s back. Marcy shivered at her touch and proceeded to kiss Bonnie gently and slowly. They untangled themselves from each other, still panting and sweating from their lovemaking.

They stared at the ceiling while they tried to catch their breath and cool down.

"That was incredible," Bonnie said, looked over to Marceline. 

“So... Elephant in the room. You had the same idea as me, huh?” Marceline smirked and looked back at Bonnie.

“Yeah, I was a little worked up and decided you would've liked a little surprise coming into bed. Even if nothing happened, it would have been nice to cuddle this way.”

“I.. had the same idea.”

“Well, great minds think alike.” Bonnie grinned towards her girlfriend, resting her head on her chest, and laid her arm across her girlfriend's stomach. Marcy held Bonnie, pulling her even closer, she didn't want to let go and neither did Bonnie. “Hey Bon...” she said in a sleepy hazy.

“Yeah...” Bonnie responded with a tone of sleepiness.

“I love you,” she said as she drifted into a peaceful sleep.

“I love you too.”

Before Bonnibel could drift off she recalled their previous conversation, “I thought of something right now.” she said out of the blue, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“Mm?” Marceline said lazily against PB's hair while snuggling closer into her lover’s embrace.

Bonnie lifted her head from Marcy's chest, “You know when you told me about how you refuse to use the Empress' eyes?”

“Do not even try to suggest anything unless you want to ruin whatever we have.” Marcy motioned towards the two of them laying in bed.

Bonnie was taken aback but acknowledged the reaction, “Oh, uh, yeah I kinda already assumed from context, that's not my question.”

“Oh. Well, we should put that out in the open. Less assuming the better.”

Bonnie slowly nodded, “... Acknowledged. Getting to my point: What about the moon pearls?”

Marcy shot her a look of horror and shook her head, “The less you know, the better.”

“The less I know the more I'm going to form different hypotheses”

Marceline shook her head, closed her eyes, and pat Bonnie's head, “No, no, you sleep now.” she attempted her version of fake snoring, much to the annoyance of PB. The other girl shook her head, pursed her lips, and rolled her eyes, “This is going to keep me awake, you know.”

Marcy opened her eyes from the attempt at fake sleeping, “Are you seriously using your sleep deprivation as leverage to get me to spill all the weird vampire crap I have to maintain?”

“Look. From what I've gathered it appeared that for the number of pearls she dropped, it'd have to be an involuntary action – like standard flushing of waste in digestive systems for all living organisms but to a more … persistent... degree.” Bonnie held her stare against Marceline's, determined to not let go. Bonnie remembered part of tracking the moon was all the pearls she laid out like breadcrumbs on trail.

“NO. NO. NO. We are not going there. With great power comes GREAT PRIVACY.” Marcy turned away from Bonnie, crossed her arms, huffed and puffed, in great annoyance.

“Great point, but like c'mon, I've seen you naked a bunch of times, how have I never you seen you … you know, expell a moon pearl.”

Marcy shuddered at the statement that came out of the Princess's mouth and turned towards her, “If this is your idea of coming on to me for round two, well, it's safe to say that I am so dry it will literally take you over a thousand-plus years for me to ever even consider the thought of physical intimacy with any being – myself included.” the only thought that repeated in her mind over and over was, 'She must never know.'

She maintained a strict poker face as Bonnie continued to poke and prod over her other, less seen vampire abilities, “Ok, if you're not going to reveal how you expel the moon pearls – which your reluctance to tell me anything is enough for me to consider that the action is voluntary like a porpoise choosing to breath, which is very fascinating in its own right – I still wonder about any abilities you haven't told me that you keep locked away.”

Marcy squinted her eyes and gave her a stern look, “Check it, I have so many abilities that I've min-maxed the best ones to suit someone like myself. The ones I don't use get flown off to the wayside versus the ones I want to keep and get stronger.” Marceline took a deep breath and held her look against Bonnie's with steel determination, 'This is good enough, this may be a good explanation. This could put out the fire of science from her mind.'

Bonnie shifted herself to get closer to Marceline's face until both of their noses were touching, “Ok, I will accept that you are maintaining the best abilities and pushing aside the ones that do not suit your style. But if you think this conversation is over with, you got another thing coming you donkus. I'm Bonnibel Bubblegum, I will not stop.”

“Well, I'm glad you love me enough to give up.”

“That was not what I was inferring.”

“But you did. Sure, you may not stop but you've accepted your fate that I will not relent this information in the foreseeable future.”

“I will find out.”

“Bonnie, you realize this is why – if I die – my journals will come nowhere near your hands.”

“RUDE.” Bonnie gaped at Marceline, pretending to look hurt.

“Not rude, only pragmatic,” Marcy winked at Bonnie, “There's a difference.”

Bonnie did the only thing she thought to do: pinch one of Marcy's cheeks, stretched it out with a gentle pull, and kissed her. Marceline and Bonnie laughed at their argument, completely silly and weird. 

Bonnie gave up pushing her girlfriend further, she knew in time that Marceline would tell her more about herself if she wanted to. Until then, Bonnibel enjoyed the long-lasting mystery that was Marceline the Vampire Queen. They remained close together until both drifted off into sleep.

Marceline no longer dreamt about the tower but beautiful dreams of being on the moon, slow dancing with her girlfriend.

**Author's Note:**

> The lyrics during the jamming to the moon segment came from "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen. 
> 
> Editing is never ending.


End file.
